Georges Braque

Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris
Arthur Tooth & Sons, London
G.R. Kennerly, London (acquired from the above)
The Estate of Mrs Vernon Sangster (sale: Christie's, London, 26th June 1996, lot 250)
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Labyrinthe, no. 4, 15th January 1945, illustrated p. 2
Galerie Maeght (ed.), Catalogue de l'œuvre de Georges Braque. Peintures 1942-1947, Paris, 1960, illustrated p. 42

The canvas is not lined. There is a milky varnish preventing the UV light from fully penetrating, however UV examination does reveal two small areas of retouching above the bird's head, and a small area near the lower edge. There is some stable craquelure in some of the heavy impasto areas, and a small area of minor drying cracks in the body of the bird. Otherwise, this work is in overall good condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The still life was an enduring theme for Braque throughout his long and productive career. In every phase, beginning with the Fauve period and culminating in the majestic interiors of his last years, Braque found the arrangement of a limited number of objects on a table-top or in an interior to be the most fertile subject for his investigations of the formal and tactile qualities of painting.  In the decades following the invention of Cubism, Braque continued to refine and re-examine the expressive possibilities of his still lifes, always creating innovative ways to represent the everyday. Braque’s studio was filled with tools, found objects, plants, sketchbooks, flowers and many of his own works, both finished and unfinished. Braque said to Dora Vallier of his canvases, ‘I take years to finish them, but I look at them every day. Arranged as they are, one next to the other, I have them constantly in front of me, I confront them.’ To the painter Jean Bazaine he said, ‘I am in the middle of my canvases, like a gardener among his trees: I trim, I prune, I guide…' (as quoted in Braque, The Late Works (exhibition catalogue), Royal Academy of Art, London, 1997, p. 73).

For Braque, understanding the relationship between his own presence as the artist and that of the objects he depicted was something of a meditative experience: 'Objects don't exist for me except in so far as a rapport exists between them or between them and myself. When one attains this harmony one reaches a sort of intellectual non-existence - what I can only describe as a state of peace - which make everything possible and right. Life then becomes a perpetual revelation. That is true poetry' (as quoted in John Richardson, Georges Braque, London, 1959, p. 27).